Guardian Angel
by Jakoby
Summary: COMPLETED Max and Logan fluff, with a little angst thrown in for fun.
1. Default Chapter

Guardian Angel 

It was pouring with rain. The skies were pitch black, illuminated by the occasional flash of lightning. The thunder echoed around the streets like a roar of anger, chasing anyone unfortunate enough to be caught out in the night. 

            One luckless girl was Max Guevera. She trudged along a sidewalk nursing a gunshot wound and cursing Logan Cale with every other breath for his 'Crusade' against evil. Luckily for her as she neared the Penthouse she could see a light in his room come on. Max smiled weakly at the thought of a grown man being woken up by a thunderstorm. As she was to exhausted, and not to mention having a bullet lodged in her shoulder, to do what she normally did, which is to say, she climbed up the side of the building, come down the elevator shaft and prise open the doors to Logan's apartment, she pushed the intercom button. His voice crackled down the line,

            "Who is it?" Max sighed; he had a voice that made her go weak at the knees.

            "Heya. It's Max. Can you come down, I don't think I could make it up the stairs." 

The intercom went dead. 

"Logan? Hello? Are you still there?" There was no reply. She sighed again. Just like him to

take off down the stairs without another word.

A few minutes later the door slid open, Max stifled a laugh. He looked like a damp hedgehog. 

            "Nice hair."

            "Nice gunshot wound."

            She smiled.

            "Knew you'd be impressed." Suddenly she stumbled and fell into the doorframe. Logan helped her up.

            "Let's get you upstairs, eh?" Max grimaced. There were 15 flights of stairs to Logan's place. 

            "Elevator?" She asked hopefully.

            "Sorry, It's still out of order. Anyway, exercise is good for you."

            Max looked at him.

            "Okay, so maybe when you have a bullet inside you it's not so good."

            "Good answer."

            They were 3 flights away from his apartment when Max stopped.

            "Err Logan?"

            "Ya?"

            "Why do you suddenly have two heads?"

            "What?"

            "It's not that I mind of course, but it's kinda disturbing."

            Logan grinned.

            "Can you make it up the last three flights?" He asked.

            There was no reply. He looked down at her. She'd blacked-out. He smiled, picked her up and carried her in his arms for the rest of the way. 

            He placed her tenderly onto his bed, carefully peeled off her jacket and shirt. He gasped. There was an ugly wound in her shoulder. It seemed bad but Logan saw that it had miraculously gone through her shoulder without touching the bone. Feeling very relieved he set about cleaning the wound. When he'd done the best he could, he covered her with blankets and set a chair by the bed to watch over her.

As she slept, his heart broke even more. He'd loved her since he first met her. And now she looked more beautiful than he'd ever seen her. But she could never be his.

            He watched her through the night and as the sun crept over the tops of the tower blocks he realised that he's have to tell her how he felt. The only thing was, he had no idea how.


	2. Default Chapter 2

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Guardian Angel: 2

Max slowly came awake at about 10 o'clock and wondered for a moment where the hell she was. Then she noticed the irritating colour of the walls. She was at Logan's. Then she realised where she was lying. Fate, it seemed, was not without a sense of humour. She looked around and saw Logan sitting, asleep, in a chair by the bed.

"My own personal guardian angel." She murmured and smiled. She looked back over the time that she's known him and wondered when it was that he had unknowingly stolen her heart. He held the keys and had done so for a long time.

_'Stop it!' _she told herself.

__

'There's no point in pityingly yourself. It won't do any good.'

Turning her mind away from her heart she cast her thoughts back to the previous night and tried to remember what had happened that had ended up with her lying on Logan's bed. But, strangely enough came up with a blank.

Finally, she got tired of lying in bed, comfortable though it was, and decided to get up. She levered herself up with one arm and swung her legs round to the floor.

_'So far, so good.'_ She thought.

She went to stand up when suddenly a wave of pain flooded over her making her gasp and fall back onto the bed holding her shoulder.

Logan was jerked awake to see the woman he adored writhing in agony on his bed. He knelt by the bed and took her gently into his arms as she cried out her pain into his shoulder.

Slowly the sobbing subsided and Max was able to lie back down onto the bed.

"Thanks," she sniffed, "I needed that."

"Any time." he replied. "Now," he said rubbing his hands. "Breakfast."

Max smiled and nodded weakly.

"Pancakes?" he asked.

She nodded vigorously and then winced as another wave of pain flooded over her. Logan smiled sympathetically and walked into the kitchen to make the pancakes.

"Maple syrup or blueberry?" he called 15 minutes later.

"Both!" Max yelled back. She heard him laugh.

"What a surprise." He walked back into the bedroom two minutes later with a frown on his face.

"I see a problem."

Max's face fell.

"What! What's wrong?"

Logan grinned.

"You're in hear, and the pancakes are in there."

She smiled.

"I see your point."

Before she could think of a solution, Logan had walked over to her, scooped her into his arms and was carrying her into the kitchen. She laughed.

"New mode of transport?"

Logan laughed.

"This is strictly a one off."

Carefully he set her down on a stool next to the table and passed her a plate of pancakes.

As they ate she asked him,

"So what happened last night? I don't remember a thing."

"I don't really know." he replied. "You turned up here at about 2am with a gunshot wound in your shoulder…"

"That explains the pain then." she interrupted.

"Yeah, you blacked-out at about 3 flights from the apartment so I carried you to here, cleaned the blood away and let you sleep."

Memories of the previous night flooded back to her.

"I remember now! You'd sent me to get a disk from that ship yard owner. The ship yard that supposedly had no security. When in fact it had enough armed personnel to occupy PARIS!"

Logan grinned ruefully.

"Oops."

AN: yey! 2 chapters in 1 week. thank yourselves lucky!!!!! Please read and review!!!!

Fenster@BrokenWorld : Thanks for the review! It's nice to know I'm appreciated!!!

SuperBlonde: Blondes rule! I shud no, I am one! lol, where do we go from here? I have no idea. remember this is just pointless fluff.

Kyre: I have no when this is set. I spose it would kinda be after Logan went to that doctor but that he continued the treatment and he can walk now.

beth: Yay! another M/L lover!!!!! Yeah here's some more. Not sure when Chapter 3 will be written. When I think of what's gonna happen I suppose.


	3. Default Chapter 3

AN: After lots of careful thought about when to set this I've decided to set it an identical world to DA's but without the miniscule facts that Logan got shot and the virus. White is still after Max but he just not going to crop up at all. Neither will Joshua. (I get confused when there's too many characters.) They also don't live in Terminal City. Have I missed anything out? Dunno, oh well. On with the story.

Dari*

_Guardian Angel: 3_

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Later that day, Max wandered into work and was greeted with waves from O.C, Sketchy and Alec and yells from Normal.

            "What time d'you call this!?" He yelled. 

            "You should have been here 3 hours ago."

            Max brushed past him.

            "Had a doctor's appointment, I'll get you a note."

            "Hey Cindy."

"Hey boo." O.C said, as she walked up grinning.

"Why're you late?" Cindy asked.

"I was at Logan's." Max replied, lifting her bike down.

Cindy's grin got bigger.

"You an Mr. Moneybags getting' busy?"

Max scowled.

"Don't call him that! He's not that rich." 

            She pushed past her friend and caught a package from Normal. She looked at the label and grimaced.

            "Sector 8, guess I'll see you in about an hour."

She got on her and rode out leaving Cindy to think about how her friend had cleverly avoided the question of her and Logan.

            As she rode over through the city, Max's thoughts were constantly about Logan. What he was doing, how amazing his pancakes were, how much she was in love with him. She smiled on the last one and was so caught up in thoughts of him that she nearly rode into one of the guards at the sector gate.

            "Watch where you're goin', stupid cow."

            She glared at the guard and showed her JamPony sector pass. He glared back and reluctantly let her through. As she rode through the gate her thoughts flicked straight back to Logan. Oh, how she loved her one-track mind.

            Sometime later in the late afternoon her beeper went off. It was Logan's number so she cycled to the nearest phone and called him back.

            "Hello?"

            "Hitin' you back!"

            "Just wondered if you wanted to come over for dinner tonight?"

            "That all depends on what's on the menu." she said with a smile.

            "Oh, you know, just one of my spur of the moment culinary miracles."

            "In that case; definitely. What time?"

            "8ish?"

            "See you then." She hung up the phone and grinned silently to herself, whil her mind loudly yelled 'YAY!!!'

            She got to Logan's at about 8:15pm and as soon as she walked in the door his head appeared out of the kitchen scowling at her.

            "You're late."

            She shrugged.

            "The traffic was bad."

            Logan laughed.

            "Now you're just lying. There isn't any traffic."

            "It was worth a try. So what are we having?" she asked, skilfully changing the subject.

            "Chicken a la Cherry." he said with a bow.

            Max stifled a laugh.

            "Chicken with cherry? Do those two go together?"

            "I'm offended by those words. If they didn't, then they do now."

            She laughed and taking off her coat she followed him back into the kitchen.

            "OUT!"

            She backed out with her hands up in surrender.

            "Okay, okay! You win! I'll go and set the table."

            "Already done." He yelled, just as she walked into the dining room. Her jaw dropped.

            The table had been draped with a cloth of dark red satin. The lights had all been turned off but upon the table had been placed 4 tall, white candles that cast a soft golden glow onto the walls.

            As Max stared, awestruck, Logan walked silently up behind her and put his arms around her waist.

            "What d'you think?" he asked quietly.

            "Its amazing." She leant back into his chest as he laughed. Walking back into the kitchen he said over his shoulder,

            "Wait till you taste the food."

            Max grinned and sat down on the sofa. Her mind was in turmoil.

AN: thank you for all ur lovely reviews. I love you all!!!

Thank you to:

GingerSnap

Lolly81

Sensi

Skeleton L. Crow

X5-220

Kaitlynne E5 Beth jt 

maggieann452

E.R

Sky21

MelindaLee   

Huntress k


	4. Default Chapter 4

Guardian Angel: 4  
  
Max sat on the sofa with her head in her hands. Silently she fought with the part of her that wanted to go into the kitchen and ask Logan what the hell was going on.  
  
"Maybe he just got carried away, it was a romantic moment."  
  
"Yeah, and maybe pigs will fly. He loves you, why can't you see it? Why would he go to all this trouble to make it romantic? You can't just accidentally do that you know."  
  
The blunt side of Max was obviously winning.  
  
Finally she compromised with going to see how dinner was coming on.  
  
She got up and wondered over to the kitchen door. Logan had his back to her and was stirring the gravy. He hadn't heard her and so didn't turn around. She could hear him muttering to himself.  
"How could you be so stupid? Just because you love her doesn't mean you have to take leave of your senses! She probably thinks you're a complete idiot now."  
Max walked silently up behind him and sliding her arms around his waist she rested her head on his shoulder.  
"Not an idiot, just a little strange. You know it's the third sign of madness when you talk to yourself." Logan spun round with a wild look in his eyes.  
"How much did you hear?"  
"From, 'How could you be so stupid,' why? Was there something before that."  
Logan sighed,  
"No, but that was enough." He turned round to face her. "I have to know Max, do you love me?  
Max felt the conflict inside of her. Part of her wanted to tell him how she felt, but the rest of her refused to let her put him in danger. She knew in her heart that she couldn't get romantically involved with him. He would be put at too much risk. Logan saw the conflict in her eyes and decided to be drastic. He stepped closer towards her and drawing her head towards him he leaned in and kissed her. Max struggled for a moment but then relaxed and enjoyed the kiss. Slowly Logan deepened the kiss and became more passionant. Suddenly Max broke away from him. She backed up to the door shaking her head slowly.  
"I, I can't!" she whispered. She spun round and fled out of the door. Logan heard the sound of his door open and then slam shut. A few seconds later he could hear Max racing away on her bike.  
Logan walked slowly back into the living room and blew out the candles. He lay down on the sofa and stared at the ceiling. This was not how he had planned the evening.  
Max returned home in the early hours of the morning. She had driven arounbd Seatle on her Ninja all night and her mind still said she should stay away. Finally she gave in and decided to do what Zack had always told her to do. She drove home and started to pack her bag. Just as she was almost finished Cindy walked sleepily into her room.  
"What cha doin' boo?"  
Max stopped what she was doing and stared at the wall in front of her.  
"I'm going away. Across the border. You'll be safer this way."  
Cindy walked over to her and put her hand on Max' shoulder.  
"Don't try to put nothin' over on me. What ya runnin' from?"  
Silently a tear slowly coursed down her cheek.  
"Love." She whispered.  
O.C turned Max to face her.  
"You finally admitted it then?"  
Max stared at her feet.  
"Yeah." she said softly. Slowly she turned and swinging her bag onto her back she walked out. A few moments later Cindy heard the roar of the Ninja as it raced away. 


	5. Default Chapter 5

Sorry it's taken me so long to update this. I've had lots of stress and also exams. Please review! Dari

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Guardian Angel: 5

After Max left Logan threw himself into his Eyes-Only work. He completed mission after mission and many drug lords and gangs were taken care of. One night a few months later he found his thoughts were drifting, not unusually, to Max. He gave up work for the night and lay down on the couch. As his thoughts wandered his hand went to the phone. Just to phone her, to see how she was doing. He picked up the handset and dialled the number. Just as he was about to dial the final number he shook his head and replaced the receiver.

Suddenly the phone rang making Logan almost jump out of his skin. He grabbed the phone.

"Max?!"

"No, it's Asha. You okay?"

"I'm, I'm fine. Just a little stressed."

On the other end of the phone Asha grinned.

"You need a night off. I'm just on my way to Crash, you wanna come?"

"I, well, I don't know."

"Oh, come on. You need a break from work."

"Well, I could use…."

"Great, I'll meet you there at 8:30."

Logan sighed as the phone went dead. He really didn't want to see Asha. But, then maybe she could help take his mind off of Max.

Several hours later Logan was sitting at the bar downing his fifth, or was it his sixth shot of tequila. Asha was sitting next to him and was laughing in hysterics.

"Go on," she said inbetween gasps. "What happened then?"

Logan grinned.

"Well, then the Irishman's wife said, 'I don't know why he jumped. He always makes his own sandwiches.'" Asha looked at him for a second, the punchline taking it's time to work it's way through the layer of drink in her and she burst out laughing again. It was such a huge exlposion of laughter that she fell off her stool into him.

"That's so funny!"

Logan laughed as he lifted Asha back onto her stool. But then fell forward into her. Asha tried to look serious as she attempted to tell him off, but she snorted and fell onto the floor. Suddenly Logan had overbalanced and fell down on top of her. He found himself lying completely on top of her looking into her eyes. They were a deep blue and he found himself falling into them.

"Your eyes, they're beautiful." he whispered.

She smiled and stroked his cheek. Slowly he leaned forward and kissed her. It was like nothing he'd ever felt before. The world seemed to stop, all the sound from the club faded. It was as if no-one else existed.

The bar man looked over the top of trhe bar at the couple on the floor.

"All right you two, break it up. I think you'd better go home."

Logan looked up and grinned at him. He stood up and taking Asha's hand they left and staggered they way back to Asha's apartment.

The next morning Logan woke up to the soft wormth of the sun on his face filtering through the partly open curtains. Then he noticed that he seemed to be covered by a large hot water bottle. He looked down and saw that he was lying on the couch in Asha's living room, wearing nothing but his boxers, with Asha similaly clad lying on top of him with her head under his chin. He smiled at the memory of the previous night and tightened his arms drawing her closer to him. She smiled and snuggled closer to him.

"Good morning love." he whispered and then drifted back to sleep.

God that took a while to finally get round to writing it. I wanna say thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

Celtic Angel: Cheers Gem!

agmgdafan: Thanks!

Gueveracale452: I thought we could have a bit of a change from the straight

forward happy ever after. lol

idlehands452: =D

maggieann452: Thank you so much, you've been so faithful through the whole

thing, you deserve a prize. Don't worry she's coming back.

huntress k: She will be back, don't fret

maggs: yay!

bob: there was fluff in this chap, lol. She's coming back. It is a happy ending!

NeShA: =D

Lolly81: well, she has gone away, but she's coming back!

Love to you all, Dari


	6. Default Chapter 6

Huntress K: heehee, to be honest I don't actually know. Just decided to make him into a twat for a

little while. Not for long though.

Lolly81: He isn't completely a perfect male, just a teensy bit. lol

Pink: I couldn't let myself write anything other than happy fluff. All will be resolved, (hopefully)

Celtic Angel: Thanks mate! I might take you up on that. love ya, xxx

Stranded Stargazer: You know, your gonna have to get used to M/L coz I love it. As much as it

pains me to say this, don't be too hard on Asha. She's in love with him,

Logan's the one to blame coz he doesn't love her.

Original D: Maybe he does know what he's doing, winks all will be revealed, though maybe

not in this chapter. lol

idlehands452: Kill the Asha/Logan fans! kill them all! No, I am going somewhere with this, I

hope.

Maggieann452: dodges eggs please, I can explain! It will be all right soon. I promise

Babyangel86: Course I'm gonna keep it Max/Logan! what kind of freak do you think I am?

although Logan did mean it when he said love, well he thinks he did. lol

Dark-Angel-Addict: ditto mate. Maxi's reaction coming up

Bob: yes it's wrong, but necessary. bows you've put your trust in the right person

JAK: yeah, I got bored. I totally agree. Max/Alec is sooooooooo wrong!

Natters: Diztalot? nice name, I just hope it's not because she's blond though. I'll take it as a

personal insult and stop writing this fic.

Huntress K, Maggieann452 and idlehands452 all receive Asha voodoo dolls to do with as they please as a reward for being my three most faithful reviewers. I love you all!

Stranded Stargazer also receives an Asha voodoo doll because she hates Asha, is there any other reason needed?

Chapter 6 dedicated to Bob for being my 50th reviewer.

Chapter 6

As the weeks passed Logan and Asha gradually fell into a routine of staying the night at each others houses. Asha couldn't have been happier as she'd been in love with Logan for a long time. But a small part of her constantly reminded her about Max. Logan had been in love with her and Asha wasn't sure how that had changed so quickly. But she decided to ignore it and be happy that she was with him.

Logan was also happy about the arrangement. In his mind he was in love with her and all thoughts of Max had been blocked from his mind in an effort to be happy with Asha. But doubts about his feelings towards her were gradually beginning to creep into his head.

O.C had watched the growing relationship between them from the start and one night she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Max woke-up with a start to her phone ringing next to her.

"Hello?" she said sleepily.

"Hey boo, how ya been?"

"Fine. Cindy, you did know that there's a time difference between where you are and where I am right?"

"Ya, but I figured you'd want to know what I gonna tell you."

"Why, what is it?"

"Your boy's got himself a girl."

"WHAT!"

"I said he's taken. So you better get your sorry little ass down here from wherever the hell you are and get him back."

The phone suddenly went dead. Cindy smiled to herself. All would be right soon.

A few days later Max arrived at Logan's apartment. She listened carefully at the door, she didn't want to go in on Logan and his new girl having fun. As she could hear no, sounds as it were, she quietly opened the door and stepped inside. Even without having been told by Cindy, she knew that he was with someone. Either that or his Aunt had moved in. All around the apartment were little touches that only a women would add. Bowls of potpourri, small crappy paintings of cute fluffy animals and throws were littered around the apartment. Max glared at them all individually and walked through to Logan's kitchen. He was standing at the sink with his back to her, whistling an old pre-pulse tune called 'All I want for Christmas'. She knocked on the door frame and the whistling stopped.

"Hey Ash, didn't expect you till about 7." Logan said without turning round. Max looked at her watch, it said 5:30pm. She had time.

"I'm not Asha." Logan spun round.

"Max?"

"The one and only."

"What are you doing here? Why did you leave!? How could you do this?!" Max could see that he was about to get hysterical, so she took his hand and lead him to the sofa. He sat there with his head in his hands.

"Why did you have to come back? Everything was going fine."

Max sat down next to him.

"I came back to tell you something. Logan, when I left, it was a mistake. I love you, I always have. I know you love me too…"

"NO! I'm in love, but I'm in love with Asha not you."

Tears slowly began to fall from Max's eyes. How had things gone so wrong?

Logan stood up and faced her.

"I think you should leave."

"Logan…"

"Now!"

Max jumped. She looked at him. His eyes were wide and you could see the white all round his iris's. She stood up slowly, her legs shaking beneath her. Logan turned away and walked over to his windows.

"Just go."

Max turned to leave when suddenly Logan's phone rang.

"Hello? Yeah this is Logan…WHAT!… yeah I'll be right there."

"Logan, what is it?"

"Asha's been in a car accident. She's at the hospital in surgery now."


	7. Default Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When Logan and Max arrived at the hospital they were told that they should go home to wait as Asha's surgery would go on for another 5 hours. But Logan was adamant about staying and went to the waiting room. Max stayed at the desk and when he was out of earshot she asked,

            "How bad is it?"

            The nurse looked across at Logan pityingly.

            "Very, the young woman sustained serious wounds to the head and chest and the doctors suspected that she had internal bleeding. I'm sorry miss, but I don't think she's going to make it."

            Max nodded and walked over to Logan, he looked up from the floor.

            "Well?"

            She swallowed hard and decided to be straight with him.

            "It's bad. They're not sure whether she's gonna make it through the surgery." Logan's head sank back into his hands and slowly, tears, forcing their way through the gaps in his fingers, fell onto the floor. Max sat down next to him and pulled him into a hug. He cried into her shoulder for a while, then straightened up and dried his eyes.

            "Thanks"

            "No probs. Um, do you want me to stay with you?"

            He looked beseechingly up at her.

            "Please, I don't want to do this alone."

            She nodded and sank back into the seat to wait it out with him.

Hours later Max saw a doctor walking towards them. She nudged Logan and they stood up.

            "Well?" Logan asked shrilly.

            "I'm so sorry sir, but the lady didn't make it through the surgery. I'm afraid Asha died 10 minutes ago. I'm sorry."

            Logan stood staring at the man in disbelief for a few moments then Max saw his mouth clamp into a thin line.

            "Can I see her? Just for a couple of minutes?"

            The guy smiled sadly,

            "Of course sir, I'll take you there." He turned and walked off down the corridor. He stopped outside room 494.

            "Here you are."

            Logan walked over to the bed and stood at the side helplessly, he looked down at her. She lay on the bed as if she were asleep. All of the colour was gone from her skin and she was very thin. Logan sat next to her and gathered her into his arms. Max stepped outside and closed the door. Standing in front of it she folded her arms and glared at anybody who looked as if they were going to come over.

            After a while Max slowly opened the opened the door and poked her head in. Logan was sitting staring at Asha. He turned to look over at the door and suddenly it was like a curtain had been lifted from his eyes. He saw her for who she was, the woman who had held his heart for over a year. He looked back at Asha.

            "I'm so sorry." He whispered as a tear fell from his eye onto the shee    ts. He leaned forwards and kissed her forehead softly, then he stood up and followed Max out of the room.

            As the days passed, Logan tried to piece together his thoughts. Know Max was back with him he knew that his feelings were as strong as ever but would she be able to love him like she used to. He let his head fall into his hands. He let Asha believe he loved her, and because of that she was dead.

            Just then Max walked in.

            "Heya, thought I'd come and invite myself for dinner tonight."

            "Max, I'm in no mood to cook tonight."

            "I know. I'm gonna cook it for you."

            Logan grinned.

            "Do you even know how to cook?"

            "I can boil the water."

_Review thanks-you's:_

_Stranded Stargazer How can you want M/A? It's wrong I tell you, WRONG!_

_Celtic Angel just for you mate_

_Babyangel86 why should you feel bad? We hate Asha! _

_Idlehands452 I loved your review. No I'm not going to reincarnate Asha, but she might be back_

_Huntress k I think __Logan__ was on everyone's bad side at the end of the last chapter. Hope your comps better soon_

_Bob I thought it was funny, glad you did too. =D_

_Maggieann452 bows I try my best_

_Natters gdgd, I didn't_

_Ok, only one chap left in this fic, please review me, I'll love you forever. Natz _


	8. Default Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Over time, Max and Logan slowly began to sort themselves out into a routine. Days turned to weeks turned to months, and soon it was nearly Christmas. A few weeks before Christmas day Max decided to take her ninja out for a ride in the snow. Just a random spur of the moment thing, she reminded herself to be back for 8 as she had dinner with Logan to get ready for at 8:30. She rode through the streets of Seattle, heading out of town. As she got through the checkpoints and away from the city the snow started to come down faster until it was nearly a full blown blizzard. Max expertly steered her bike through a gateway in the side of the road that led to a small barn that she'd driven past before. She drove the bike inside and sat down in the hay to wait it out. The blizzard quickly blew itself into a full storm and continued to rage outside. Max sighed.

'Looks like I won't be getting to Logan's on time.' She thought. She glared at the hay on floor as if it was the hay's fault and leant back into a big bale that was behind her. Slowly her eyes began to droop, even though she only needed about 2 hours a night she hadn't been sleeping for about a week and her body decided that now would be a good time to recharge. So without even asking Max it switched off and she drifted off to sleep.

The next morning she woke up and looking at her watch saw that it 7.45.

'Great!' she thought. 'With any luck I won't be late for dinner' She listened for any signs of the storm but as it appeared to have blown itself out she wheeled her bike out of the barn and rode back towards Seattle. She got to Logan's in record time and screeched to a halt outside his apartment block at 8:00 sharp. Max got off the bike and after putting it into the garage, pressed the intercom button for his apartment.

"Hello?" his voice sounded almost instantly.

"Heya, it's me."

"Max! Where the hell have you been? I've just spent the last night worrying about you. You could have called!"

Max shook her head in confusion.

"I'm coming up."

She walked into the building and took the stairs 4 at a time. Walking into his apartment, she was met by an unshaved, very dishevelled Logan.

"Well?"

"Well what? I'm on time, almost."

Logan sighed.

"Max, why would I arrange a dinner with you at 8AM IN THE MORNING!"

Max looked at her watch. Sure enough it had the little dot by the time showing that it was AM, not PM.

"Ah."

"Ah? That's it? Just ah?"

"Well, I fell asleep in a barn."

"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight?"

"Hey don't blame me; it's not my fault I haven't been getting any sleep." At this Logan looked very sheepish.

"You know, you don't have to keep helping me. I've got other contacts, they'll do some work for me if I asked."

"Yeah, they'd probably get it wrong. Nah, I don't mind. It's something to do besides getting yelled at by Normal every day."

Logan grinned,

"Yeah, that must be fun." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"It is, and speaking of Normal I better be getting to work."

Max walked back to the door, he yelled after her,

"You wanna try dinner again tonight?"

"Aiight, I'll try not to fall asleep."

That night they managed to both be there at the same time and enjoyed one of Logan's personal culinary creations. As they were sitting on his sofa drinking a very old Chardonnay that Logan had been saving for a special occasion he prepared himself and voiced a question that would lead to who knew where.

"Have you ever fallen in love Max?"

Max, who had been staring out of the window, snapped her head round to face him.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curiosity I guess."

"I did once, but I didn't let myself act on it because I was too afraid of him getting hurt."

"Oh."

"What about you?"

"Me? I've been in love with the same woman since I met her a few years ago."

"Does she feel the same way?" Max whispered.

"I thought so, but she went away so I almost gave up any hope."

"Almost?"

"Well, she came back so I guess there's still a little hope left inside."

"I'm glad. Everyone should have hope."

"Do you think she'll ever love me, Max?"

"I think she does, but has been too scared to admit it and accept it."

At that, Logan stood up and crossed over to her. He took her hands and drew her up to his height. Looking into her eyes he saw fear but it was overshadowed by an emotion that was so wonderful he almost wept. He returned it with every fibre of his being and slowly, leant down and pressed his lips to hers. Max reached up and linking her arms around his neck deepened the kiss until neither knew where one ended and the other began.

Finally, they had both come home.


End file.
